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Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Georgian winemakers call Armenian statement “not serious"

26.09.2012 (Hvino News). The statement of Armenian winemakers regarding Armenia being the cradle of wine is not serious, – Tina Kezeli, Chairman of Georgian Wine Association, said to Radio Commersant. In her words, this is not the first claim from the Armenian side, and the world community no longer takes it seriously. She added that Georgia should have a strategy that will not allow the Armenian side to make similar statements.

Giorgi Samanishvili, executive director of Tbilisi Marani, noted that Georgia has 8,000 years of uninterrupted winemaking tradition. The businessman called the statement by Armenian colleagues as "war of non-professionals".
According to expert Levan Kalandadze, the Armenian winemakers’ statement is ridiculous, and the government has to develop regulations and standards. The expert claims that the government has already taken some steps in this direction, but much more needs to be done to popularize Georgian wines. "Once they say Leonardo da Vinci was baptized Armenian, it is no surprise that they start to dispute over Armenian origin of Georgian khvanchkara,"- Kalandadze says.